Toy-molding apparatus

ABSTRACT

A toy mold which enables children to form plastic characters and other items with accurately formed facial features and with different colored sections clearly separated from each other. The mold comprises deep narrow depressions in the cavity walls that define the mouth and other facial features, and which serve as dividing lines at the collar and other areas. A child can fill these small depressions with black molding material, wipe away any excess that overflows the depression, and allow the material to set. He can then place lighter colored molding material in the rest of the cavity to form the rest of the character.

Unit l Inventors Wanda L. Clarwaters Hermosa Beach; Thomas G.Frickanisce, Hawthorne; Christie M. Maison, Los Angeles, all of, Calif.Appl. No. 857,062 Filed Sept. ll, 1969 Patented Aug. 10, 1971 AssigneeMattel, inc.

Hawthorne, Calif.

TOY-MOLDING APPARATUS 2 Claims, 6 Drawing Fw.

U.S.Cl 249/117, l8/D1G. 57 Int. Cl 1329c 1/14 Field 0! Swrch l8/D1G. 57;249/1 17, 140

1 1 References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 3,061,880 11/1962 weisbach18/D1G. 57

Primary Examinerl'l. A. Kilby, Jr. At!0rney-Seym0ur A. ScholnickABSTRACT: A toy mold which enables children to form plastic charactersand other items with accurately formed facial features and withdifferent colored sections clearly separated from each other. The moldcomprises deep narrow depressions in the cavity walls that define themouth and other facial features, and which serve as dividing lines atthe collar and other areas. A child can fill these small depressionswith black molding material, wipe away any excess that overflows thedepression, and allow the material to set. He can then place lightercolored molding material in the rest of the cavity to form the rest ofthe character.

TOY-MOLDING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION l. Field of theInvention This invention relates to molding apparatus and methods forproducing playthings and like items.

2. Description of the Prior Art An entertaining toy is provided by moldsthat can be filled by a child to form characters and other items.Heretofore, only one color of material has generally been used for anentire item. Accordingly, while the item may have a well definedoutline, the facial features and other parts within the item aregenerally poorly defined. It is possible to paint the items so as tobetter define the features and create a more colorful character or otherobject. However, children generally do not have the skill necessary toaccurately paint delicate features, and the extra supplies and effortrequired can hamper the entertainment. Several different colors ofmolding material can be applied in the mold to a single item, but thedifferent colors tend to run together and create indefinite dividinglines, par ticularly in the case of mouths and other facial featureswhich are small.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present inventionis to provide apparatus that enables the molding of objects withfeatures thereon which are well defined.

Another object is to provide a method for forming a multicolored objectwherein the sections of different colors are well defined.

In accordance with the present invention, a mold is provided thatenables a child to form a character or other item having features thatare defined by a color which is different from the background, thefeatures being accurately placed and clearly differentiated from thesurroundings. In one em bodiment of the invention, a mold is providedwith a cavity that defines a character with predetermined facialfeatures, ineluding a mouth, ear and eye. Each of these features isdefined by a deep narrow depression in the walls of the cavity. A childcan form the character by first filling the deep feature-definingdepressions with a black molding material, wiping away any excess thatmay overflow the depression. He then allows this small amount ofmaterial to set. After this, he fills the rest of the facial area of thecavity with flesh-colored material and allows it to set. When the formedcharacter is removed from the mold, it will have black lines thatclearly define the facial features.

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particulan'ty inthe appended claims. The invention will be best understood from thefollowing description when read in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective view of a moldconstructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a character formed in the mold of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a step of the process of theinvention, wherein limited areas ofthe mold, such as those representingfacial features, are filled with a dark molding suhstance;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another step in the process whereinexcess material applied in the step represented in FIG. 4, is removed;and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of still another step in the processwherein the remainder of the cavity is filled.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. I illustrates a mold I0having a pair of cavities l2 and I4 which define items that can bemolded by a child. Typically, the mold 10 is constructed of metal, and achild can pour a liquid plastisol into one of the cavities such ascavity I4. The child then heats the mold, causing the plastisol to set iinto a solid rubbery figure. Heretofore, such molded items havegenerally been constructed using only one color of molding material forthe entire item. Thus, while facial and other features could beprovided, in the form of protrusions or indentations into the item, suchfeatures were not easily distinguishable because all of the material wasof the same color. The features could be painted with a color differentfrom the background, but this required substantial agility, which isoften lacking in children, at least to the extent that good resultscould not be generally obtained.

In accordance with the present invention, the walls of the cavity I4 areconstructed to enable a child to mold an item with clearly definedfeatures that are of different color from their surroundings. Such anitem shown at 14A in FIG, 3 is a character with a face area 16A, body18A and legs 20A and 22A. The face has several features including an ear24A, mouth 26A and eye 28A. These facial features are of a dark color,such as black, while the surrounding area of the head is of anothercolor such as pink. In accordance with the invention, the walls of themold cavity 14 of FIG. I are constructed to enable a child to mold thecharacter so that different colored molding material is applied todifferent areas in a closely controlled manner. As a result, when theitem is removed from the mold, it has the appearance shown in FIG. 3,and requires no painting.

The mold cavity I4 of FIG. 1 includes a head section 16, body sectionI8, and two leg sections 20, 22. Several deep, narrow cavities areprovided in the head section at 24, 26 and 28 to define the ear, mouth,and eye of the character to be molded. Each of these feature-definingdepressions is provided to receive a molding material of a differentcolor than that which is applied to the rest of the head. In a similarmanner, collar line 30, arm lines 32 and belt line 34 are provided toreceive a different color plastic from the surroundings, to highlightthese features. As shown in FIG. 2, the facial feature cavities, such ascavity 24 represent the ear, and is about as deep as it is wide.

The process of forming the character 14A is shown in FIGS. 4-6. It maybe noted that the mold I0 may be placed on a heater (not shown) whichcauses the molding material to set. In the first step of the process, acontainer 36 with a black color plastisol or other molding material isused to fill only the feature-defining areas, such as cavities 24, 26and 28, and any other area of the mold which is to be colored black. Thecontainer 36 typically is provided with a fine nozzle 38 to permitaccurate placement of this molding material. Often a child will overfillthe small feature-defining depressions. As will be apparent from thedrawings, the cavities or grooves 24 have substantially verticalsidewalls, that is approximately perpendicular to the surfaces of theadjoining features in the mold cavity I6. Thus, they define relativelysharp and well defined upper edges to ensure that wiping of excessmaterial therein can be accomplished, leaving the material in thegrooves having welldefined side edges. The excess is eliminated in themanner shown in FIG. 5, by wiping it away with a cloth 40. The mold maythen be heated by the heating device on which it has been placed, tocause setting of the black-colored features.

After the black-colored portions have set, another container 42containing another color material, such as a pink material is used tofill the head section lb of the mold. Additional containers may be usedfor still other areas, such as one which holds green molding materialfor part of the body portion 18. The mold is heated again to set thesematerials, the black and pink materials becoming integral during suchsetting. When the mold cools, the item may be lifted from the mold toprovide the FIG. 16A of FIG. 3.

As mentioned above, the feature cavities 24, 26 and 28 enable the betterdefinition of the facial features. The collar area 30 provides a band ofa single color (black) that separates material in nearby regions, theseregions being the face area 16 and body area 18, which receive materialof different colors. Without the collar band 30A, the dividing linebetween the pink and green colors in the areas 16A and 18A of thefinished figure would be indefinite. With the band 30A separating thesecolors, any merging of the colors where they meet, or waviness of themeeting line, is camouflaged by the black collar band in front of it.Thus, the depressions for receiving black molding material not onlyenable the production of sharp facial features, but provide a sharpdividing line between different colors.

In molding the items, it is generally preferable to at least partiallyset one color, such as the black or other color in the facial featuredepressions, before applying a second color in the region above it. Thishelps to prevent running of the colors into each other, which can, forexample, cause the character to have a dirty-looking face. However, suchrunning together only occurs some of the time, and it is possible toform attractive items without first setting one color before applyinganother over it.

The use of narrow depressions for receiving a color different from thesurroundings is also very useful in forming words on a item. Forexample, the mold cavity 12 that defines a can of cat food has deep,narrow depressions 42 that spell the word CAT FOOD. in forming an itemrepresenting a cat food can, these depressions 42 are filled with ablack molding material, which is then set, prior to filling the rest ofthe cavity 12.

The items which can be constructed by a child using the molds of thisinvention can be used in a variety of applications, such as in enablinga child to construct his own cartoons. A

stand can be placed in the molding material prior to its setting, whichwill support the figure in a substantially upright position. While itemswith substantially two-dimensional faces can be formed, with only thefeatures protruding therefrom, it is generally preferable to sculp theface to provide a bas-relief item for a three-dimensional effect.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described andillustrated herein, it is recognized that modifications and variationsmay readily occur to those skilled in the art, and consequently, it isintended that the claims be interpreted to cover such modifications andequivalents.

What we claim is:

1. Toy apparatus for enabling children to produce multicolored moldeditems, comprising:

a mold having an open cavity configured to define at least two adjacenttoy features separated by a predetermined common boundary;

an elongated relatively deep and narrow recess extending along anddefining said boundary, said recess having sidewalls substantiallyperpendicular to the adjacent sur faces of said adjacent features andmeeting the same at relatively sharp well defined upper edges whereby toenable a child to fill said recess with a first molding material thenwipe said cavity to remove any said molding material from said adjacenttoy features, leaving the same only in said recess, prior to filling theremainder of said cavity with different molding material.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the depth of said recess isabout the same as its width.

1. Toy apparatus for enabling children to produce multicolored moldeditems, comprising: a mold having an open cavity configured to define atleast two adjacent toy features separated by a predetermined commonboundary; an elongated relatively deep and narrow recess extending alongand defining said boundary, said recess having sidewalls substantiallyperpendicular to the adjacent surfaces of said adjacent features andmeeting the same at relatively sharp well defined upper edges whereby toenable a child to fill said recess with a first molding material thenwipe said cavity to remove any said molding material from said adjacenttoy features, leaving the same only in said recess, prior to filling theremainder of said cavity with different molding material.
 2. Apparatusas defined in claim 1 wherein the depth of said recess is about the sameas its width.